Please Note: This Main Features for 8752.5 Jun 2003 was revised on 29 October 2003 from the original version published on 24 October 2003. The revision is in the first table (June Quarter Key Figures). The figure for "value of work done" for "Mar qtr 03 to Jun qtr 03 % change" has been revised from 2.0 to -2.0.

In seasonally adjusted terms, total building work done fell 2.0% in the June quarter 2003 to $1,056.4m, still the fourth highest level on record.

New residential work done rose 2.6% to $683.1m. New houses rose 4.2% to $579.0m, a level exceeded only by the March and June quarters 2000. However, new other residential buildings fell 5.5% to $104.1m, following a rise of 16.0% in the previous quarter. Alterations and additions rose 1.0% to $76.8m, the third highest level on record.

Non-residential building work fell 11.7% to $296.5m, still 31.5% above the level of a year earlier.

VALUE OF WORK COMMENCED, ORIGINAL, VOLUME TERMS

Total building work commenced fell 5.6% in the June quarter to $1,059.0m.

New residential commencements fell 14.8% from the previous quarter’s fourth highest level on record, to $654.0m. New houses fell by 8.1% to $564.5m and new other residential buildings by 41.6% to $89.4m. Alterations and additions fell 2.8% to $72.0m.

Non-residential commencements rose 18.6% to $333.1m, following a rise of 24.3% in the previous quarter.

NUMBER OF DWELLING UNITS COMMENCED, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

In seasonally adjusted terms, the total number of dwellings commenced fell 6.6% in the June quarter to 5,323 and new private sector houses fell 10.9% to 4,135. In each case, the previous quarter was the highest number since the March quarter 2000.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information about these and related statistics, contact Tony Bammann on Adelaide 08 8237 7316, or the National Information and referral Service on 1300 135 070.

NOTES

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This publication contains the first detailed estimates for Western Australia from the quarterly Building Activity Survey. The data are subject to revision when returns from the following quarter are processed. Final data for the June quarter 2003 will be released in Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 19 January 2004.

This June quarter 2003 issue is the final issue of this publication.

In future all data in this publication will be available in other ABS products, viz:

Quarterly chain volume data incorporate a new base year, 2001-02, which has resulted in revisions to growth rates, small in most cases, for subsequent periods. In addition, the reference year has been advanced to 2001-02, thereby preserving additivity in the quarters after the reference year. Re-referencing resulted in revisions to levels, but not growth rates, for all periods.

Seasonally adjusted and trend estimates have been revised as a result of the adoption of new seasonal adjustment methodology. Concurrent seasonal adjustment has replaced forward factor methodology for all seasonally adjusted series in this publication. See paragraphs 30 and 31 of the Explanatory Notes.

SIGNIFICANT REVISIONS THIS ISSUE

Some non-residential building work commenced in the September quarter 2002, previously classified as work commenced for the public sector ‘entertainment and recreational’ category, has now been reclassified as work commenced for the private sector. The revisions affect tables 1, 5 and 6. The corresponding work done from and including the September quarter 2002 has also been reclassified as work done for the private sector, affecting tables 2, 3, 11 and 12. Non-residential building work under construction is also affected (tables 7 and 8), as is work yet to be done (tables 13 and 14).